CoolerMaster CS-M Weapon of Choice M4 DM Mousepad Review

Introduction:

When it comes to gaming a good mousing surface can make all the difference. With the right amount of slip and grip on a mouse pad you can get way more precision, which equates to better shots in an FPS especially when going for that all important "headshot." CoolerMaster, as you know, makes many cooling products but they also have many great products for gamers like cases, peripherals, and surfaces that are specifically targeted toward this audience. The company even made it into a separate brand called Storm and today I am reviewing the CoolerMaster Storm CS-M Weapon of Choice. Featured are two versions of this mouse pad, this Weapon of Choice being an M4 and the other being an AK.

Closer Look:

So let's take a closer look at our M4 here. Our M4 comes packaged in a rather small and modest box. What is great is that if you happened to be at a store browsing between different mouse pads CoolerMaster actually puts a preview of the surface on the outside of the box to let you feel what it is actually like without having to open the box. Apart from that the one side of the box tells you how CoolerMaster rates the quality of this mouse pad. One of the other sides consists of where to get support from CoolerMaster in multiple languages. Finally, the last side we'll talk about lists the specifications and features of the mouse pad. I bet you're itching to actually see what this pad looks like so be my guest.

The design is rather awesome I must say. What I mean by design is the art on the front looks really great. As you can see, it is the depiction of a silhouette of an M4 along with a flying bullet and what appears to be some black blood spray. Pretty graphic I guess and it's probably something you wouldn't buy for your kid either, but for an avid gamer who likes FPSes this is probably a great art design. The top surface also feels comfortable when you move your finger across it. When rubbing it lengthwise it slides across smooth but when going the other way it feels more rough and seems to generate a little more friction going in that direction. On the back, of course, is a rubber grip that is designed to not move unless you pick up the pad. On another note, the pad is rather light so you should have no problem wrapping it up and taking it with you to LAN parties.

Now let's move on and discuss performance and some specs and features of the mouse.

Specifications:

Surface Type: Duramesh™

Size: 405 x 285 x 3mm

Base: 100% Natural Rubber

Features:

Your Weapon of Choice - M4

Specialized Heavy Duty weave for high sensitivity mouse control

Engineered for pinpoint precision and highly responsive tracking

Aggressive non-slip bottom - stick it on the table and forget about it

Testing:

Testing of the mouse pads ran them through a typical day of use, during which I played my game of choice, TF2, as well as used each while using Photoshop. All tests are on a scale of one to ten based on how bad it was or how great it was.

Probably the only good thing to be found in the Zowie IO 1.1 Mouse Bundle was the mouse pad itself. Being rather large and having a good grip itself, not just with the rubber bottom but in terms of mouse performance. I decided to pit these two together and see who would come out on top. Additionally, in all tests I used both the Logitech G5 and CoolerMaster Storm Sentinel. The figures for this test are primarily based on headshots acquired in TF2 but also based on how easy it was to use with Photoshop.

Speed:

For speed, not only did I compare how fast it moved the pointer on the screen, but how fast it moved on the pad. Results are on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being slow and 10 being super fast.

Control:

Like in the Zowie review, the mouse didn't grip as well as it could have but it did do better in this review against the Weapon of Choice - M4 . Scale is 1 to 10, with 1 being really hard to control and 10 being really easy to control. When testing control I primarily based the figures on how accurate I was with each mouse in TF2.

With both mice the pads are really neck and neck but it would appear that the CM Storm Weapon of Choice - M4 has the upper hand in nearly all of the tests. Not only is it good in all three of these categories but if there were a rating for art I would give it a 10 there as well.

Conclusion:

Overall, this is one great mouse pad. Looking back I remember being impressed from the moment it was out of the box till it got on my desk. The artwork on the pad is superb and separates it from the rest of the plain mouse pads out there. Best of all, not only does it look good but it performs as good as it looks. I have absolutely no gripes with this mouse pad whatsoever and it would probably take me an eternity to even find something. Right now it's not easy to find anywhere but you can pick one up directly from CoolerMaster at their site. For only $15.99 I would have to say this is a great buy and I would highly recommend you get this if you're shopping for a new surface in the near future.